Currently, there are a number of conference solutions for enabling people to conduct live meetings, audio conferences, video conferences, conferences, presentations, or other types of gatherings via the Internet, the public switched telephone network (PSTN), or other voice and/or data networks. Participants typically use a telephone, computer, or other communication device that connects to an integrated conference system. The meetings typically include an audio component with an accompanying visual online component. Existing conferencing solutions employ an integrated solution in which the audio and online components are integrated via a comprehensive conferencing system. The audio component is provided via a conference bridge. Participants access the conference bridge using a dial-in phone number and passcodes. An accompanying online component may be accessed via a web service that provides various types of media and collaboration functionality, including, for example, a shared presentation window, a whiteboard application, a screen share application, real-time messaging, and document/media sharing and editing.
While these types of integrated conference solutions have become an indispensable form of communication for many businesses and individuals, they require sophisticated system capabilities for integrating the audio conference bridge with the accompanying online collaboration. With many individuals, organizations, and enterprises having a preference for one of the various available conferencing solutions, it can be problematic to manage and schedule conferences in an increasingly complicated landscape. This problem is further complicated with the various available software applications for managing calendars, events, contacts, conferences, customer relationships, etc. For example, it is not unusual for an individual user to manage personal contacts, corporate contacts, social network contacts, and customer contacts with different software applications, websites, or application service providers, while being forced to organize phone calls, conference calls, online conferences, and in-person meetings with these contacts across multiple conferencing tools.
Furthermore, existing integrated conference solutions are limited by a restrictive user experience, which requires that participants know in advance that both the audio and online components will be used for the meeting and which conferencing service provider will be used. A host must select the conferencing service provider, schedule the meeting, and distribute the access information. Participants dial-in to the conference bridge or request that the conference system dial-out to their telephone number. Then, the participants access the online component via a computing device.
In this regard, existing systems for providing online collaboration and conferencing functions are incapable of conveniently accommodating spontaneous, impromptu, or otherwise unscheduled phone calls. For example, consider the ubiquitous mobile phone call. A first person (i.e., the calling party) initiates an outgoing call to one or more other persons (i.e., called parties). The call may be established via the public switched telephone network (PSTN), a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service provider, a peer-to-peer connection, or otherwise. During the voice call, the need may arise for online collaboration (e.g., a screen share session, document sharing and/or editing, browser sharing, messaging, etc.). In this context, the participants in the voice call will have to agree on the appropriate service provider, pause the discussion to access the online application, and then configure the online application with the appropriate connections, settings, etc. to initiate online collaboration among the call participants. If a conference service provider is being used, the parties may be required to terminate the voice call, and then pick-up the conversation after setting up a conference call and accessing the collaboration functionality.
Accordingly, despite the many advantages and commercial success of conferencing and collaboration solutions, there remains a need in the art for improved systems, methods, and computer programs for establishing online collaboration (e.g., screen sharing session) for unscheduled, impromptu, or spontaneous voice calls.